By Stoyan Nenov
SOFIA (Reuters) – Several thousand supporters of Bulgaria’s ultra-nationalist Revival party scuffled with police on Saturday while trying to storm the building of a European Union mission during a protest against the country’s plans to adopt the euro next year.
The anti-government protesters, chanting “Resignation” and “No to the Euro”, threw red paint, firecrackers and Molotov cocktails at the EU building in the capital Sofia, setting the front door on fire before the police pushed them away.
Around 10 police officers sustained minor injuries and about six people were detained, a senior police official told media after the protest.
The government condemned the attack on the EU buildings, saying in a statement that such attacks “are unacceptable and contradict the principles of the rule of law”.
The protests began in front of the European Union country’s central bank, with protesters setting effigies of European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and other officials on fire.
Some waved Bulgarian, Soviet Union or East German flags, while others carried placards reading “We don’t Want the Euro”.
“We don’t want Bulgarian financial independence to be destroyed. We want to keep the Bulgarian lev,” Kostadin Kostadinov, the Revival party chairman, told media. “We are here to defend our freedom.”
Bulgaria’s new government, which was approved last month after October’s snap election, the seventh in four years, has reaffirmed the country’s commitment to joining the euro zone next year.
Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov has said the 2025 state budget will set a deficit of about 3%, paving the way for the introduction of the euro on January 1, 2026.
However, the country still needs to meet an extended inflation target before an examination of the country’s bid.
Bulgarians are divided over the introduction of the euro, with many worrying that it will cause prices to skyrocket, as happened in Croatia in 2023.
Revival, which has accused the central bank and the national statistics agency of “fabricating data” to enable the introduction of the euro, has called for a wide public debate on the economic effects of its introduction.
Economists say that Bulgaria, the poorest EU state where the lev has been long pegged to the euro, would attract more foreign investment if it adopted the single currency and secure credit ratings upgrades that could cut its debt financing costs.
(Reporting by Stoyan Nenov, writing by Daria Sito-Sucic; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
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